we hope you all had a great start into the new year! We’ve received heaps of valuable feedback from you and even though the past year has already been crazy for us, we have a feeling that 2013 is going to top that. Together with you, we want to build the best and most beautiful photo community in the world.

You all followed the heated discussion around ownership and copyrights in the last couple of weeks. We thought it’s time for a statement and there’s a promise we want to give you: your photos will always remain yours and nothing will EVER be done with them without your consent.

It’s your photos that make EyeEm what it is. Being photographers ourselves, there’s nothing we value more than our community’s rights and privacy. If a platform makes benefits, it must be through an opt-in program and revenue sharing with the creators. Period.

Please let us know in the comments below if you have any questions, feedback or ideas. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Having launched the EyeEm Ambassador program in late 2012 we’ve literally got steamrolled by so many awesome applications. Expect the network to grow heavily in 2013 with ambassadors raising the EyeEm flag from Tanzania to Mississauga.

That said, there’ll be even more EyeEm Meetups and photo walks happening all across the globe. We’ve ended the year with the first meetup in Bangkok and continue this year with Pasadena, NYC, Fukuoka, Paris and more coming up. Make sure to drop us a line if you’re interested in hosting your own meetup.

We’re also going to hack the future of photography again with our 3rd edition of Photo Hack Day, set up EyeEm Masterclasses with some of the most inspiring photographers of our time, host weekly missions, challenges & competitions and come up with a – yet super secret – international photo award.

Oh, and if you happen to stop by in Berlin make sure to give us a heads up: we’re always up for grabbing coffee. The beauty about mobile photography is that it makes the boundaries between online and offline communities blur. You are always welcome!

We received so many amazing ideas from you guys since we started and could not imagine anything more fun to merge them with our own to continue building the future of EyeEm. Here are some small hints on what’s to come:

Our camera will get a major boost in 2013. We’re not giving out anything yet but you’ll definitely be surprised. For instance, what about a bunch of new editing features, effects, kickass filters & improved frames? Yay! Endless possibilities.

We’re also re-imagining how you are finding likeminded people all around the world and interact with your friends. Add to that some advanced tagging options and you’ll soon have a lot of new possibilities to share your photos.

You’ve asked for it our team is already working on it: the block user feature. With this feature coming out within the week, you’ll be able to prevent certain users from following you & seeing your photos.

Last but not least we’re currently working day and night to offer EyeEm in your local language. Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Japanese are coming up soon and lots more languages are in the works.